


That Night

by HixyStix (GaiaMyles)



Category: Jericho (US 2006)
Genre: Gen, Home Invasion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 15:52:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13251531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaiaMyles/pseuds/HixyStix
Summary: One night, five years before the bombs, Jake left town after a robbery gone bad.This is what happened to Bill that night.





	That Night

The radio squawked to life in the darkness.

“ _Code eight!  Code eight on Braintree!  Code eight!_ ”

Bill shot straight up in bed, hoping he’d dreamed that.  He’d never heard a code eight – officer in dire need of help – used outside of training in the almost seven years he’d been a deputy.  He’d lived in fear of ever hearing it.

Sara’s voice transmitted next, worried enough Bill knew he hadn’t dreamed it or woken up to some midnight drill.  “ _Confirming a code eight on Braintree Court in Jericho proper.  All officers please respond.  Connor, please update as possible_.”  Her words were calm, but Bill knew she was as desperate as he was for more information.

Despite the fact that it was three in the morning and he’d been asleep just minutes before, Bill had his gear on in record time.  He stopped only long enough to give his dog Sadie a quick ear scritch and apologize for leaving her again so soon.

Braintree Court was in the Pines, the most expensive area in Jericho and generally a quiet place.  What could have happened there that made Connor so desperate for backup?  The radio remained silent other than officers checking in as they arrived on the scene – with everyone in the same place, there was no need to use the radios.

Bill’s apartment was on the south side of town, about as far from the Pines as was possible – _he_ certainly didn’t fit into this neighborhood – making him the last on the scene.  As soon as he turned onto the street, it was obvious where to go.  Pajama-clad people stood in the road, watching a house lit up with the flashing of patrol cars and ambulances both.  Riley stood guard in the driveway, turning away anyone who got too curious.

“Home invasion,” he explained quickly as Bill jogged up.  “Homeowner killed one of them; the other put up a fight.  No surprises who’s involved and we’re all gonna be fucked because of it.”

Bill could have figured part of that out a second later when angry yells sounded from the front of the house.

“ _He_ shot him!  He _killed_ him!  Why’re you arresting me?  Arrest _him_!  I didn’t do anything!” howled Mitchell Cafferty – one of Jonah Prowse’s lowlifes – as he was manhandled into the back of a patrol car by Connor and Salem.  Mitchell’s nose was broken and blood dripped down the front of his shirt, but judging from Connor’s black eyes and busted lip, he’d probably earned it.  Bill wondered whose body he’d find inside.

Bill nodded as Connor and Salem passed, all intradepartmental animosity dropped for the night.  They were deputies first, after all.

Sheriff Dawes greeted him at the door.  “Good, you’re here.  I need you processing the scene while Jimmy gets a full report.”

Bill nodded, unsurprised; the sheriff had been pushing him into a crime scene specialty.  It worked for Bill; he generally had an iron stomach and he’d never been as good as Jimmy at dealing with people.  It sounded like Jimmy already had his hands full – Bill could hear loud sobbing further back in the house.

The sheriff pointed away from the noise.  “Walk through the dining room.  There’s pieces of the kid all over the den.”

Sheriff Dawes referred to everyone under forty as ‘kid’, so Bill still had no clue who’d died.  It might have been Jake – and Bill felt his stomach lurch at the thought.  Only for Stanley’s sake, he told himself, but it was a lie.  He may not have liked Jake, but he’d still known him since they were kids.

The homeowner turned out to be Gray Anderson, one of the owners of the salt mine.  Of course, Bill thought, if a dumbass like Mitchell Cafferty was going to knock over a house, it was going to be the house of the richest man in Jericho.

Gray looked to be in shock, barely registering the EMT buzzing around him at the kitchen table, checking his vitals.  Jimmy sat across from him, trying to calm down the sobbing Mrs. Anderson.

Just past them in the den, Bill saw what was left of the second home invader – and he knew he’d never forget the sight.  It took him a moment, but he recognized the kid – and ‘kid’ was the right term – despite the fact he was missing a quarter of his face.

“Jesus _fuck_ , Chris,” Bill swore under his breath.  Emily Sullivan’s little brother.  Jonah Prowse’s only son.  Riley was right:  there was going to be hell to pay before this was all over.

 

* * *

 

This hadn’t been the grisliest thing Bill had ever seen, to be sure – there were some car wrecks and suicide calls that kept showing up in nightmares – but it was the first time he’d really known the person involved.  While he worked, Bill had managed to make himself forget that he knew a name for the bits of blood and brain splattering the hardwood, but it’d been exhausting to stay focused.  He was done with that, though, and had a camera full of bloody photos, a pad full of notes, and a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t off-duty just yet.

The street was quiet and empty, except for Bill’s car and Salem’s patrol car, parked across the front of the drive for easy visibility.  Bill collapsed into Salem’s passenger seat without waiting for permission.

“You and I are out here for a few more hours,” Salem said by way of greeting, confirming Bill’s guess.  “Connor checked into the clinic with a concussion and a broken rib, but he’ll be fine.  Taylor’s taken the Andersons to a hotel for the night and Sheriff sent Riley and Sara home to get some sleep.  They’ll take over for us when we’re up.”

Bill nodded, glad for the update on everyone.  “Cafferty?”

“In a cell, scared shitless.  He fought hard enough that I think he wanted us to shoot him.”

“I wouldn’t want to be him right now,” Bill said, shaking his head.  “Jonah’s gonna have it out for whoever survived and let Chris die.”

“Tell you what, I do _not_ want to be there when Jonah finds out.”

“I just hope he stays out of town.”  Hope was all Bill had; Jonah was usually canny enough to be subtle, but he’d also never lost a child.  He might try to target the Andersons, he might attack the salt mine, he might take it out on Jericho in general, or he might do nothing at all.  Bill had no way of predicting what would happen in the morning.

“Sheriff’s gonna ask the mayor for a curfew, just in case.”  Salem rubbed his temples.  “It’s gonna be a long day.”

A long day with a lot that could go wrong.  Bill glanced at the clock – 3:58.  Too early to call his parents to tell them to stay home today, but he could leave them a text message.  He couldn’t tell them any details yet, but maybe they’d call out from work and stay in if he asked them to.

“Talking to your momma?” Salem asked wryly when Bill pulled out his phone.

“Don’t you fucking start with me,” Bill snarled.

Salem laughed hollowly.  “Not tonight, man.  Jonah’s shit is probably gonna hit the fan.”

That was not the response Bill had been expecting.  For Salem, it was a shocking show of concern.  Still…  “I was just gonna tell them to be careful.”

Salem snorted.  “No, you weren’t.  You were gonna tell them to stay home and hide out, weren’t you?  That’s what you always tell your parents when things look skittish.”

Bill bristled.  Salem was being too perceptive for his liking.  “Why don’t you get some sleep?” he suggested.  “I’ll keep an eye out and punch you in the nuts if things get interesting and I need your help.”

“Nah, Koehler.  I’d sleep through that; your throws couldn’t hurt a fly and we both know it.”  Despite his words, Salem stretched out and pulled his hat over his face, shielding him from the streetlamps.

Bill grinned.  If he lucked out, one of Jonah’s goons would do a drive-by and Salem would see how harmless his punches were, after all.

 

* * *

 

 Bill fought to keep from dozing off.  He’d parked the patrol car, ostensibly to watch for speeders, but in reality he and Jimmy were taking turns catnapping and hoping nothing else happened.  Neither of them had gotten any real sleep yet and all the adrenaline had worn off hours ago.

His phone started buzzing.

Bill eyed his cell phone.  Everyone who had his number knew better than to call him during work hours.  Text, sure, but if they needed to talk to him, they had to go through the office.

Jimmy stirred.  “Whozzat?” he mumbled blearily.

“Sheriff Dawes?” Bill said questioningly, staring at the number.  With a shrug, he answered.  “Hello?”

“Bill, I need you and Jimmy to go pick someone up for questioning.  Mitchell’s told us about a third party involved last night.”

It was definitely Sheriff Dawes, but requests like this usually came over the radio.  “Yes, sir.  Why didn’t you radio us?  Is there a problem with our equipment?”

“I didn’t want to tip off the suspect.  I need you to pick up Jake Green.”

“Ja–?  No, of course.  Yes, sir.  We’ll go get him right now.”  Bill had the car in gear before he hung up the phone.

Jimmy rubbed his face, trying to wake up.  “What’s going on?  Something happen at the station?”

“Mitchell talked.  Jake was there last night, too.”

“And he called in case Jake was listening to our radios.”

“Yup.”  Bill nodded solemnly.  “I would be, if I were him.”

Gail Green met them at the door with red-rimmed eyes.  “You’re here for Jake,” she stated bleakly.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jimmy said gently.  “Is he here?”

“He’s not here.”  Gail stepped aside to let them in anyway.  “I haven’t seen him since last night and his things are gone.”

Bill nodded at Gail as he passed her.  “Do you know where he might be?”

She shook her head.  “I’ve already looked for him in his usual places:  the ranch, his grandfather’s, Stanley’s.  I didn’t go to the hunting cabins, though.”

Bill made a mental note to get the locations of the cabins.  He’d been to a couple of them as a teen, but not all.

“Johnston told me what happened,” Gail said.  “Have you checked on Emily yet?”

“No, ma’am,” Jimmy answered as Bill huffed.  When did Gail think they’d had time to check on anyone else?  They were doing well to all still be awake at this point.

“Was Jake part of it?” she asked desperately.

“We can’t say right now.”  Bill wasn’t going to be the one to tell her, at least.

Gail looked imploringly at them both.  “Find him.”

“We’ll do our best,” Jimmy promised.

“If you don’t mind, Mrs. Green, I’ll go check out Jake’s room and you can tell Jimmy where to find all the hunting cabins.”

Gail nodded.  “Let me get coffee for you boys, too.”

Oh, Bill could kiss Gail right now.

 

* * *

 

 Patrol cars were sturdy, but they weren’t designed for off-roading comfortably, Bill noted as they bumped slowly down the road – more of a rough trail, really – from the last of the hunting cabins.

“So where next?” Jimmy asked.

“Let’s double check the Richmonds’ while we’re out here,” Bill suggested, “but I think the next step is to go to Jonah’s.”

Jimmy grimaced.  “I was afraid you were gonna say that.”

 

* * *

 

 “Jonah ain’t here.  You wanna go the fuck away now.”  The guard glared menacingly at Bill and Jimmy through the chain-link fence.

Bill’s hand went instinctively to his holster.  “We told you we’re not here for Jonah.”

“Yeah, you’re looking for Jake Green.  Who ain’t?”

“So Jake isn’t here?” Jimmy asked.

“I didn’t say that.”

“So then he’s here?” Bill countered.  “We need to talk to him.”

“I didn’t say that, either.”

Bill rolled his eyes.  “You gotta say _something_.  Like maybe, ‘Sure, Jake’s here; let me go get him.’  Or maybe, ‘Jake’s not here, but I’ll tell you where he’s hiding.’  Else we’re gonna be standing here staring at each other’s mugs for a long time.”

“Jake isn’t here,” said a gravelly voice from inside the compound.  Jonah Prowse, looking worse than Bill had ever seen him, stepped out into the light.  “If he was, I’d have strung his guts over the fence for you.”

The hair on Bill’s neck stood on end.  “We’re sorry for what you’ve gone through today, Jonah, but don’t go making threats in front of us.”

Jonah glanced dismissively at Bill, which just made him try to stand up a little taller.  “Deputy Taylor, you won’t find Jake Green here.  My men are looking for him, too.  You should leave before this conversation takes an unpleasant turn.”

Jimmy nodded.  “We have to ask you to let us know if you find him.”

“Leave,” growled Jonah.

“Uh, sorry for your loss,” Jimmy stammered.  He reached out and grabbed Bill’s elbow, making sure Bill followed him.

“’Jonah ain’t here,’ my ass,” Bill snapped as he slammed the car door shut behind him.  “I think we need to go talk to the sheriff now.”

 

* * *

 

 Connor was manning the office when Bill and Jimmy got back.  His face had blossomed into livid black and purple bruises.

Bill whistled.  “Lookin’ good, man.”

Connor flipped him off, moving slowly enough Bill could tell he was still in pain.

Sheriff Dawes waved them into his office.

“We didn’t find Jake,” Jimmy said right away.

“I guessed that when you didn’t bring him in with you,” the sheriff said drily.

“He cleaned out his bedroom at some point last night.  We put a BOLO alert on his car with the state troopers and checked any places he might have holed up,” Bill explained.

“How sure are you that you checked all his hiding spots?”

Bill and Jimmy looked at each other and shrugged.  “Relatively?” Jimmy offered.

“I’m not close to him anymore, but we went to all the places he used to hide out when we were in school.”

Sheriff Dawes sighed.  “If we were a larger department, I’d recuse you for your history with the Green boy, Koehler.  But I need all hands on deck for this.  Did you learn anything else?”

“We did,” Jimmy confirmed.

“Jonah isn’t happy with Jake.  Said his guys are looking for him, too, and came close to saying he’d kill him if he found him.”  Bill thought back.  “The compound was quiet, though.  Everyone seemed on edge, as if they didn’t know what was going on, either.  If they’re planning anything, it’s being done inside and silently.”

“Cafferty made it sound like Green was the mastermind of the plot and then deserted them.  I’m not sure how much of that is bluffing, but he’s vehement that Green was supposed to be there.”  Sheriff Dawes poked at some papers on his desk.  “He’s clammed up now, of course.  Wants to get lawyered up.  I’m not sure what good that’ll do him, since he can’t afford anyone good, but he’s welcome to try.”

Bill frowned.  He hadn’t even thought of how big a trial could get, even in a seemingly open-and-shut case like this one.  Last night wasn’t going to be over for a long time.

“What’s your judgment on Jonah?  Is he planning anything?”

“He’s pissed as hell,” Bill said.  “But he didn’t seem histrionic.  He made no threats against anyone but Jake.”

“Well, he told us to leave before things got heated,” Jimmy pointed out.

Bill nodded.  “Still, I didn’t get the impression he was doing anything but mourning today.”

The sheriff thought for a minute.  “Okay.  I want you boys to do your paperwork and then go home and get some sleep.  Keep your radios on, but rest.  We start fresh on this in the morning.”

There was an end in sight.  Bill thought longingly of his bed.  “Yes, sir.  Thank you, sir.”

  



End file.
